Dive Brief:
- The tech job market is expected to grow this year despite economic conditions and high-profile layoffs, but growth will be more conservative than in 2022, according to a report from Janco Associates released Friday.
- In 2023, the IT job market will add 174,000 positions year-over-year, according to the company's projections. In 2022, employers added 186,300 IT jobs.
- CIOs and CFOs are aiming to automate processes where possible, according to Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco. Executives will aim to cut non-essential managers and staff, though demand for coders and developers will continue, Janulaitis said in an email.
Dive Insight:
While hiring aspirations are likely to cool as the year advances, trends in IT talent unemployment suggest tech workers are still highly sought-after.
The unemployment rate among tech professionals fell to 1.8% in December, just half a percentage point from its lowest point of 1.3%, most recently recorded in March 2022, according to a CompTIA review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In response to tighter economic conditions — which analysts expect for 2023 — companies will redistribute tech talent internally with a focus toward breadth of skills rather than specialization, Christopher Gilchrist, principal research analyst at Forrester, previously told CIO Dive.
Barriers to talent sourcing can have consequences beyond human resources. If companies are unable to hire at the necessary clip, they can fail to execute projects or deploy needed features in time.
Talent gaps can also hurt a company's financial projections — and their ability to reap benefits from existing investments.
IDC projects companies will see how critical skills shortages will impact the benefits from IT investments this year.
"We’re creating new skills requirements and it’s taking time to fill them," Rick Villars, group VP, Worldwide Research at IDC, told CIO Dive.
